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Notes: The multiwavelength anomalous dispersion (MAD) method is increasingly being used to determine protein crystal structures. In theory, data collection at two wavelengths is sufficient for the determination of MAD phases, but three or even more wavelengths are used most often. In this paper, the results of the phasing procedure using only two wavelengths for proteins containing different types of anomalous scatterers are analyzed. In these cases, it is shown that this approach leads to interpretable maps, similar in quality to those obtained with data collected at three wavelengths, provided that the wavelengths are chosen so as to give a large contrast in the real part of the anomalous scattering factor f. The consequences for a rational MAD data-collection strategy are discussed.

Notes: Abstract  The structure of β-mercaptoethanol-inhibited urease from Bacillus pasteurii, a highly ureolytic soil micro-organism, was solved at 1.65 Å using synchrotron X-ray cryogenic diffraction data. The structure clearly shows the unexpected binding mode of β-mercaptoethanol, which bridges the two nickel ions in the active site through the sulfur atom and chelates one Ni through the OH functionality. Another molecule of inhibitor forms a mixed disulfide with a Cys residue, thus sealing the entrance to the active site cavity by steric hindrance. The possible implications of the results on structure-based molecular design of new urease inhibitors are discussed.

Notes: Abstract  The structure of Bacillus pasteurii urease inhibited with acetohydroxamic acid was solved and refined anisotropically using synchrotron X-ray cryogenic diffraction data (1.55 Å resolution, 99.5% completeness, data redundancy = 26, R-factor = 15.1%, PDB code 4UBP). The two Ni ions in the active site are separated by a distance of 3.53 Å. The structure clearly shows the binding mode of the inhibitor anion, symmetrically bridging the two Ni ions in the active site through the hydroxamate oxygen and chelating one Ni ion through the carbonyl oxygen. The flexible flap flanking the active site cavity is in the open conformation. The possible implications of the results on structure-based molecular design of new urease inhibitors are discussed.

Notes: Abstract  Direct cyclic voltammetry and 1H NMR spectroscopy have been combined to investigate the electrochemical and spectroscopic properties of cytochrome c 553 isolated from the alkaliphilic soil bacterium Bacillus pasteurii. A quasi-reversible diffusion-controlled redox process is exhibited by cytochrome c 553 at a pyrolitic graphite edge microelectrode. The temperature dependence of the reduction potential, measured using a non-isothermal electrochemical cell, revealed a discontinuity at 308 K. The thermodynamic parameters determined in the low-temperature range (275–308 K;ΔS°′=–162.7±1.2 J mol–1 K–1, ΔH°′=–53.0±0.5 kJ mol–1, ΔG°′=–4.5±0.1 kJ mol–1, E°′=+47.0±0.6 mV) indicate the presence of large enthalpic and entropic effects, leading, respectively, to stabilization and destabilization of the reduced form of cytochrome c 553. Both effects are more accentuated in the high-temperature range (308–323 K;ΔS°′=–294.1±8.4 J mol–1 K–1, ΔH°′=–93.4±3.1 kJ mol–1, ΔG°′=–5.8±0.6 kJ mol–1, E°′=+60.3±5.8 mV), with the net result being a slight increase of the standard reduction potential. These thermodynamic parameters are interpreted using the compensation theory of hydration of biopolymers as indicating the extrusion, upon reduction, of water molecules from the hydration sphere of the cytochrome. The low-T and high-T conformers differ by the number of water molecules in the solvation sphere: in the high-T conformer, the number of water molecules extruded upon reduction increases, as compared to the low-T conformer. The ionic strength dependence of the reduction potential at 298 K, treated within the frame of extended Debye-Hückel theory, yields values of E °′ (I=0) =–25.4±1.4 mV, z red=–11.3, and z ox=–10.3. The pH dependence of the reduction potential at 298 K shows a plateau in the pH range 7–10 and an increase at more acidic pH, allowing the calculation of pK O=5.5 and pK R=5.7, together with the estimate of the reduction potentials of completely protonated (+71 mV) and deprotonated (+58 mV) forms of cytochrome c 553. 1H NMR spectra of the oxidized paramagnetic cytochrome c 553 indicate the presence of a His-Met axial coordination of the low-spin (S=1/2) heme iron, which is maintained in the temperature interval 288–340 K at pH 7 and in the pH range 4.8–10.0 at 298 K. The temperature dependence of the hyperfine-shifted signals shows both Curie-type and anti-Curie-type behavior, with marked deviations from linearity, interpreted as indicating the presence of a fast equilibrium between the low-T and high-T conformers, having slightly different heme electronic structures resulting from the T-induced conformational change. Increasing the NaCl concentration in the range 0–0.2 M causes a slight change of the 1H NMR chemical shifts of the hyperfine-shifted signals, with no influence on their linewidth. The calculated lower limit value of the apparent affinity constant for specific ion binding is estimated as 5.2±1.1 M–1. The pH dependence of the isotropically shifted 1H NMR signals of the oxidized cytochrome displays at least one ionization step with pK O=5.7. The thermodynamic and spectroscopic data indicate a large solvent-derived entropic effect as the main cause for the observed low reduction potential of B. pasteurii cytochrome c 553.